


Scars

by bmovies212



Series: Earp Wars [6]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kidnapping, Physical Abuse, Ward is a dick, Willa is slightly bi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:08:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23631379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bmovies212/pseuds/bmovies212
Summary: When a life is taken but not ended, what must be done to claim a new one?ORThe Rosita origin story
Relationships: Bobo Del Rey | Robert Svane/Willa Earp, Rosita Bustillos & Nicole Haught
Series: Earp Wars [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1494062
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	Scars

**Author's Note:**

> Originally this was gonna be edited in parts into part three of Earp Wars, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that all that I wanted to say about it worked best as its own story. Don't worry, though -- Earp Wars 3/Return of the heir is still coming!
> 
> Also, this works best if read at the end end of the cycle, or at least after having read Earp Wars and Earp Heir Strikes Back.
> 
> Also also, I made Willa slightly bi, or at least bicurious. God bless fanfiction.

_Somewhere in space, a star was forming._

_It had been forming for many millions of years, initial clumps of the tiniest atoms slowly growing closer together, colliding with each other over and over again. The atoms combined with each other in a violent clash, gaining more and more mass with every new collision. Over time, the collection burst with a massive explosion, transforming into a giant gaseous combination of heat and light. The temperature of the object shot up over time until it eventually settled (if such a thing can ever be said to truly settle) at around fifty thousand degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, steel would turn to liquid long before it even got close to the surface. A single person would be instantly vaporized, their skin turning to ash and dust, followed by the complete disintegration of the rest of their body. Within a few more seconds, even that would burn away, leaving anyone looking for that body with nothing but a memory of a memory._

_And if enough memories are lost or turned to dust, what then becomes of the person who has them?_

The girl didn’t know where she was. The room was dark, its dimensions lost to her. Her face and chest were fire and her skin itched like a mother. She held her breath and listened to the sounds around her. Nothing in the room, so she was alone in here. A steady _hissss-whir_ , of some machinery. The predictable _beep….beep…beep_ of a heart monitor. Further out, people walking and talking in low voices, but no one running around in a panic, and no sounds to indicate major trouble.

So: a hospital.

Location determined, her next step was figuring out if she could move. Nothing in her body screamed of broken or dislocated limbs, so that was a plus. Her feet both raised when she told them to, so walking wasn’t an issue once she got up. Her right arm…

She pulled, and something held it in place. Not handcuffs, but bigger – some sort of safety in case of rowdy patients; to pin them in place, most likely. She gave a few experimental yanks and although she managed to move her arm a few inches within the machine, there was no sign of it actually leaving.

_Okay….left side then._

This would be a little more difficult. That whole side of her felt fuzzy, as though it had fallen asleep. _Must have some pretty good drugs_ , she thought. As she moved, the burning and fuzziness intensified. Her left arm was in a tent of some sort, with devices set up to monitor it for….something. The good news was that all those devices meant less room for security. Taking advantage of that, the girl gritted her teeth, flattened her palm to create as thin an edge as she could, and yanked backwards.

“FfffUUUUUCCCCCKK!!!” she screamed as her arm slid past the machines. Tears streamed down her face as pain shot through her body. Beside her, several of the machines began beeping at an extremely rapid rate as her heartrate skyrocketed, the pain pumping adrenaline into her heart and through her system. She fought past it and saw her hand had vanished into the cuff or tent or whatever it was. She heard running footsteps outside, gritted her teeth, and gave another yank. Her arm popped free with a _shlook._ She felt it scream in agony, and when she looked it was a mess of red and white. The door to the room opened, and voices around her shouted.

“My god, she’s loose!”

“Get a tourniquet and IV, prep for surgery, _now!_ ”

“How the hell did she even—”

“Quite remarkable…”

“If she dies, you _all_ die!”

“Wynonna?”

The other voices stopped speaking. The girl looked at each of them – the well-dressed man with a cape and goatee; the short, curly-haired man with a snack sticking out of his front pocket; the young tan woman with dark hair; the predatory-looking man with a shock of white hair against his otherwise dark follicles. She cleared her throat and reached for them. “Where’s….”

 _My sister_ , she tried to say, but the words were lost to the haze of unconsciousness.

_Everything she can see is fuzzy. Her tiny mind doesn’t understand words yet, though she has recognized the kind tones in the big people that keep coming to check on her. They lean over her. The big one whose name sounds like “Wur” smells funny, but she feels safe with him._

_“Hey, there,” he says now, leaning over her. He rubs her cheek with his hand, and she leans into it._

_“Hey,” he says again. “Welcome to the homestead, Willa.”_

There was less pain the second time she woke up.

She looked around. Her surroundings had changed. This room was a lot less like a room and a lot closer to a prison cell. It was smaller, and while there was still a single door in and out, it had been left open…something they would only do if they were absolutely certain they could hold her.

Well.

Her left side felt entirely numb. Not in the pins-and-needles way it went when a limb was falling asleep. This was more like…an absence. Something that should have been there, but wasn’t. She tried snapping her fingers, and while she _heard_ the miniature explosion of air when finger struck palm, she didn’t _feel_ any of it.

“Hello,” said a voice to her right.

Her head whipped around and she immediately tried to grab for something to defend herself with, only to see that she was bound more securely than before. Bands held her arms in place at the wrist and elbow, with additional bands across her chest and legs. Their tightness only served to underlay the point that whoever her captors were, she wasn’t going anywhere until they wanted her to.

Resigned, she turned to face the voice that had spoken. She saw the caped figure from when she had previously woken up. He wore an expensive looking uniform with a furred fringe – military, but important enough that he could get away with modifying things as he saw fit. He had a thin beard lining his mouth, a wicked grin, and a shock of white hair at the top of his skull.

Her eyes narrowed. She knew this man…this _revenant._ “Robert Del Rey.” Suddenly the expensive setting and shackles in a hospital made a lot more sense.

Del Rey grinned. “My reputation precedes…though I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of yours, young Miss Earp.”

She retched and rolled her eyes, unable to do much more with her bonds holding her in place.

Del Rey rose from his seat and moved closer. “So…I know that Ward had two daughters. Both close in age. Still, you look just older…would you be—”

“Don’t you fucking say my name, revenant,” she spat.

“Well, I need to call you something, don’t I?” she said.

“Call me whatever you like. You’ll be dead soon.”

Del Rey didn’t look concerned, only curious. “And what makes you think that?”

“I’m his number one girl. He’ll _always_ come for me.”

Del Rey nodded and went to a panel on the wall. He typed in a code and soon the room was filled with a holo of someone giving a news report. _“…and in other news, the investigation into the death of Ward Earp, sheriff of Purgatory, came to a sad but expected conclusion today._ ”

 _Death?_ “What—”

“Sh,” said Del Rey.

“ _Following an attack on his home last week that left only his youngest daughter untouched, investigators have ruled his cause of death voluntary manslaughter. Earp, a descendant of famed marshall Wyatt Earp, was at his home when invaders ransacked the property, killed his eldest daughter, and strung him up on the property after severely torturing him. According to police reports and witness statements, Sheriff Earp was later discovered by his youngest daughter, Wynonna, who seemingly shot her father in an attempt to end his pain.”_

Her teeth gritted. “No…”

“Shall I turn it off?” asked Del Rey. She shook her head and continued to listen. “ _Some sources have questioned the motivations of the younger child, calling into question her connection to the group that attacked the place. These reports theorize that the child brought the attack to her home herself for reasons that remain unclear. However, we remind viewers that this is only speculation and should not—”_

The image disappeared, and she turned to Del Rey. “I said—”

“No.” The revenant said. He sighed. “At any rate, you see the problem. Your father is dead, and my employer—”

“Clootie.”

Del Rey paused, then continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “—had a vested interest in obtaining something that your family never should have had in the first place. What happened shouldn’t have, but—”

“They think I’m dead.”

Del Rey hesitated again. “….Yes.”

She paused, considering her next question. “Why?”

Del Rey looked at her with sympathy. “You were in an extreme condition when authorities arrived. They had assumed you were dead already. Another hour or two later, it’s very possible they would have been correct.”

She nodded slowly. “Why am I here? Does Clootie know?”

“There’s no reason for Lord Clootie to know of your presence unless it becomes necessary….which hopefully, it won’t.”

That didn’t sound promising. “Why does my side feel…wrong?”

Del Rey took a moment before answering. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“One of your flunkies was on me. Peacemaker went off, and…” She tried to remember more, but there was only redness clouding her vision. Del Rey nodded and went back to the wall panel. He hit a button on it and the bed tilted upward. Another button, and the locks on her restraints disengaged. He looked at her. “Are you certain you want this?”

“Want what?”

Del Rey sighed. He pushed a third control and the entire wall in front of her turned into a digital mirror. She looked and nearly screamed. Her entire left side was nothing but blackened skin and exposed muscle. There was some machinery connected to her that must have been pumping her so full of painkillers that it was a wonder she was coherent. The scarring seemed to form a rough pattern of a man shape, where the revenant had fallen on top of her when Wynonna had shot him….and her…

It was too much. She wrenched her head to the side and threw up whatever was in her stomach. Her stomach heaved, but nothing more came out, just grunts and belches. She kept heaving, trying to produce something, but nothing came but cries of pain. A wetness formed in her eyes and fell to the floor in a mixture of blood and water. She screamed at the pain, at the loss, at the attack of her only family on both her and Daddy…

After some time, she felt a gentle hand guide her back to the bed. The cries eventually tapered off, and for some unknown period, she slept, her dreams powered by the loss of her father and the unfairness of being a living dead girl and the betrayal of the closest thing she had to a friend… 

_“Come on, Willa,” says the giant she has come to know as Da._

_Slowly, with great care and precision for a one-year old, she pulls herself up to a standing position. Her legs wobble, but eventually hold. Da smiles. “Good!” he says, a smile forming on his face. He rises and crosses to just outside of her room. “Now, come to me. Quick, now.”_

_“Ward, for god’s sake, she’s barely eighteen months old,” says the other giant, Ma. “You cant really expect her to—”_

_Da raises his hand and turns towards Ma, who immediately shrinks back and stops talking. She turns, her slightly rounded belly protruding out from her robes, and regards Willa with a sad look. She opens her mouth, but instead turns and heads further into the homestead._

_“Ma go?” she asks Da._

_“Yeah, she’s just tired…your baby brother is making her all sorts of exhausted.”_

_Her eyes wrinkle at this. Da only refers to the thing in Ma’s belly as a baby brother. When Ma talks to her about it, she always adds ‘or sister’. Willa isn’t quite sure what the difference is, but she does know that when they come out of Ma, they’ll be partners for life, just like Ma and Da._

_While these thoughts run through her head, Da is waiting for her to run to him. He gestures towards himself and crouches, his hands outstretched. Slowly, she lifts one foot and puts it down a little ways up from where it was. She then repeats this with the other and grins._

_“There you go, honey. You’re doing great,” says Da._

_Excited by the pleasure in his voice, she repeats the process faster. Up, down, up, down – and then_ all _is down as the world begins tilting. She reaches for where she saw Da’s hands, but they’re not there, and neither is Da. She falls forward and hits the ground and starts crying._

_She rolls onto her side and sees Da standing in the corner. “Try again, Willa,” he says in a commanding voice. She reaches for him, but he steps back. “First lesson – anything you want done, you need to do it yourself, because no one else is gonna help you.”_

_“Ward, what are – WILLA!” says Ma, coming in behind him. She starts to run forward towards Willa, but Da is shoving her backwards, keeping her from Willa. Ma hits the wall and slides to the floor. A sound escapes her mouth, but Da just turns around and says, “Get up.”_

_Ma starts to move, and then Da is pushing against her, holding her down by the head. “Not you,” he says. He looks at Willa one more time and again says, “Get up.”_

“Can you get up?” the dark-haired woman asked.

She looked away from the nurse or doctor or whatever she was and towards the wall where she imagined a window would be. At some point, someone had programmed that wall to show outside conditions. The problem was that they weren’t _actual_ outside conditions. It was an occasional shifting of various locations going through a day/night cycle. There had been mountain ranges, deserts, great bodies of water. Today’s view was a grassy meadow with a single tree, inside which was a run-down treehouse of indeterminate age. Occasionally great white birds would fly through, honking happily, content in their simulated freedom.

 _Freedom_ , she thought bitterly. _Right. Bet they’re also dumb enough to count on people._

The nurse stood up and crossed her arms. “Look, _niña_ , I get it. You don’t want to be here and looking all ugly. You wanna be beautiful and at home with _tu familia_ , but guess what? That ain’t happening anymore for you than it is for me.” She turns to look more fully at the nurse, who seems to take this as a sign of recognition. “For what it’s worth, I am sorry you’re here, but look on the bright side.”

The girl blinks slowly, her two eyes – one mechanical, one organic – focusing on her caretaker. “The bright side?”

“Yeah,” said the nurse, leaning forward conspiratorially. “You met me.”

The girl stared at the nurse and her small grin for a minute, and then, despite herself, she laughed and rolled her eyes. “That’s horrible.”

“Got you moving again, though, didn’t it?” The girl nods and gets out of the bed. The nurse comes around and extends her hand. The girl reluctantly extends it and the nurse inspects the machinery attached to it. Although it only appeared to be a simple metal band, it actually served to monitor and numb nerve endings throughout her body, effectively letting her function without feeling pain with every breath – something that had persisted despite the numerous skin grafts and repair work done in the months since…

She shut that thought down. No use going down that road, since the possibility of her ever going back there seemed ever more remote, even if she _did_ want to….which she definitely didn’t. The problem was, there wasn’t anywhere else she could go either, which left her here…in a Serpenten hospital with a bunch of machinery keeping her intact, a revenant leader that visited whenever he felt like, and an overly friendly nurse.

The nurse made one final adjustment on the band, and then stepped back. “Done!” she declared. “How’s that feel?”

The girl shrugged. “The same,” she said. “No pain.”

“Cool, cool…” said the nurse. “How about this?” The nurse stepped forward and pulled the girl into a hug. The girl tensed and started to scream when she realized that….it didn’t hurt.

The nurse was hugging her and it didn’t hurt.

Her burned and scarred left side was pressed up tight to this random nurse’s body and she could feel the pressure of their bodies connecting and _it didn’t hurt_.

The girl stepped out of the hug. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out. In front of her, the nurse smiled smugly. “You’re welcome,” she said, a hint of pride in her voice.

“Thank you…” started the girl, stopping when she realized she didn’t know who she was thanking.

The nurse picked up on this. “Rosita. Rosi to my friends.”

“Thank you, Rosi,” she said.

“Any time, hon,” said Rosita with a grin.

_Willa stands on her toes, trying to get a glimpse of the new baby – her new baby_ sister _, in fact. She knows that Daddy had wanted a boy, but secretly she’s glad that she got a sister. Now she has someone to teach everything that Daddy teaches her, and in the exact same way._

_She wouldn’t know how to teach a boy, anyway. That would be like her telling daddy how to do something, and that’s just crazy._

_The baby spits up in her crib and immediately starts fussing and trying to get out. Willa looks around to see if they’re alone, and then crawls into the crib with her sister. “It’s okay, Wy,” she says. “You’re just cranky. It’ll be—”_

_One of Wynonna’s flailing fists connects with Willa’s skull. She lets out a cry, and Wynonna stops fussing. As Willa grabs at the wound, Wynonna actually starts laughing._

_Laughing._

_At hurting her._

_Willa can’t help herself. Soon she’s laughing too and rolling next to Wynonna. Later, she holds her hands up in front of the infant and every time a fist or foot connects, she blows on Wynonna’s chest, eliciting more laughter from the girl. By the time either of their parents check on them, both girls are asleep in Wynonna’s crib, holding each other, protector and protected._

The door to the privately-owned apartment slid open, and the woman who lived there was immediately grabbing the man on the other side of the door and pressing him against the wall out of sheer desire. Without letting him speak, she sucked at his mouth, determined to get every last taste of him. He grunted, torn between desire and duty, until finally, just as she had started unbuckling his trousers, he grunted, “One second, Angel.”

“Fuck that,” she said. “You’ve been gone nearly a year. I was this close to fucking Rosi a few times.” She yanked the pants down and went in for the kill, not bothering to be gentle.

Del Rey groaned with pleasure as his angel worked her mouth on him. With great reluctance, he put a hand on her head and gently pushed her away. “Willa, we—”

Teeth bit down hard on his member and he gritted his teeth against the pain. The pain doubled in a second when a fist punched him twice in the testicles, which was followed by a headbutt that left him reeling and sliding down the wall. The woman glared at him from above, her hair waving back and forth, mocking him. “Willa Earp is dead, Robert. Remember?”

Del Rey laughed and pulled himself up. “Well, it got your attention, didn’t it?” He checked himself over and saw that his body was already sewing itself back together, his mechanically augmented immune system working overtime to get his cells creating new skin and muscle to replace what his angel’s mouth and fist had destroyed. “Quite a bite on you.”

The woman scowled at him. “Did you just come here to mock me? I can take a walk outside in the lower levels for that.”

“We have a problem…possibly.” The woman raised one of her thin brown eyebrows at him, inviting him to continue. “It seems our last accountant was somewhat careless in covering up your….allowances.”

The woman’s anger evaporated. “So…what? Am I exposed, then?”

“Not yet. The matter has been…addressed…but if someone else picks up on this…” He shook his head. “We need to move you.”

She laughed. “Move me where? It took months to get this place set up. Trying to get something set up even quicker would absolutely get noticed.”

Del Rey shrugged. “Well, that’s not the only option…”

She rolled her eyes. As much as she loved Robert, his flair for the dramatic grated on her nerves more often than not. “And the second option is…”

“A new face. A new identity. Total freedom.”

It was almost enough to make her hit him again. “Sure. I’ll just miraculously grow a new face. Don’t know why I didn’t do it years ago.” She fixed him with a glare. “How fucking stupid are you, Robert?”

“Less than you give me credit for.” He took her hand gently and removed a data drive from his pocket. Holding it next to her gauntlet, he said, “This little upgrade will let you look like anyone you want. Just grab a DNA sample from them – bit of blood, bit of bile, whatever – do a quick scan of their face, get their voice recorded, and presto.”

She blinked, unwilling to believe it could be that easy. “Just like that,” she said skeptically.

“Look at your pad,” he said. She activated it, and sure enough, the menu was different. She flipped through and saw “Physical configuration” where previously there had been nothing. There was only one option under it. She looked at Del Rey again, who nodded. She pressed it, and…nothing. She felt exactly the same.

“It didn’t work—” she started to say, then stopped. Robert had been speaking, but it was the words _she_ had been saying. Not believing it, she looked at Robert, who nodded. She adjusted the wall so that it was in mirror mode, and she saw two Robert Del Reys staring back at her, only one of them was wearing her clothes, standing where she had been standing. This second Del Rey approached the image and touched it, a grin forming on her – no, on _his_ – face.

“Unbelievable,” s/he said.

The real Del Rey moved up next to his counterpart. “That we didn’t find this sooner?”

“No.” The counterpart Del Rey turned to face the original. “That you’d be so egotistical as to make your lover look like yourself.”

Del grinned at her. “Well, I am the second most beautiful person in the galaxy.”

The false Del Rey reflected the original’s grin back at him. “So what now?” s/he asked.

“Find someone you can replace with minimal fuss,” said Del Rey. “Got any ideas?”

Not-Del Rey thought about it. “A couple,” s/he said. “But first, there’s something I want to see..”

Del Rey moved closer, his smile an invitation to anything and everything. “Anything you please, my Angel…”

_“Mama, please! Come back!”_

_The four-year old runs after her mother, determinedly pulling at her clothes to keep her from leaving. Sure, she and Daddy have been fighting a lot, but it’s her_ mother _. There’s no way she’d just up and walk away from them. They’re partners like her and Wynonna are partners. They have to stick together._

_Mama stops walking and turns around. “I’m sorry, Willa,” she says. “Daddy…he’s mean. He’s no good. And really, I don’t think he even loves us – not the way he should.”_

_Willa is shaking her head. “No, that’s not true.”_

_“It_ is _true, honey. I’m sorry.”_

_“But we have to stay together!” Willa shouts. “That’s what you said. Sisters have to stick together.”_

_“Yes…you do.” Mama looks behind her at the waiting ship, then turns back to her daughter. “I meant it, too – you need to take care of Wynonna. Be for her what I can’t. I wish I could bring you both with me, but…Ward would never stand for that, much less the people where I’m going.”_

_“No…” cries Willa. Mama cups her head in the palm of her hand and then turns and heads for the ship. She climbs inside, the door seals, and within minutes, the ship has left the atmosphere, carrying mama off to some life without her…some life that she didn’t want Willa to be any part of…_

_Still sniffling, she turns and walks back into the homestead. Inside, she finds Wynonna trying to climb into the icebox. She turns at Willa’s approach and smiles a big dumb grin. “Will!” she says happily._

_“Hey there, Nona,” Willa says sadly. “What are you looking for?”_

_“Thirsty,” says her sister. “Wanted my bottle.”_

_“Of course you did.” Willa sighs and reaches onto the top shelf of the unit for it and hands it to her. She watches as the littlest Earp gulps it down in almost one whole swallow. Wynonna lets out a belch and then looks curiously at Willa. “You crying, Will?”_

_“No,” says Willa sharply, rubbing at her eyes. “Why would I?”_

_Wynonna just shrugs. She drops the bottle to the floor, stumbles over, and hugs her sister. “It okay, Will. Mama make you happy.”_

_Willa pulls away from her sister and grabs her by the shoulders. “No, she won’t. Mama’s gone. It’s just you and me, okay?”_

_Wynonna’s eyes are wide, but she nods. Willa sighs and pulls the girl into a hug. “Just you and me,” she says again._

“Here’s to us, _chica_ ,” said Rosita, clinking their bottles together.

The woman smiled and returned the gesture before downing half the bottle in a single swallow. Rosita noticed and whistled. ‘Damn…what’s got you so thirsty?”

“Exactly,” She sighed in disgust and contemplated her friend. “I think Robert’s getting tired of me.”

Rosita laughed and took another swallow. “Yeah, and Clootie is up for the kindest person of the century award.” She looked at her companion and noticed that she wasn’t laughing. “You’re serious?”

“Maybe?” She got up and walked over to the window, looking at her gauntlet. “You know he was by here last week?”

“I…know his ship was in the sector,” Rosita said slowly, getting up to join her friend.

“Yeah,” scoffed the woman. “Came in all smooth, and then before I could do more than get his trousers open, he’s talking about someone noticing money movements and slipping me this new app for the gauntlet.”

“What new app?”

“Oh, just the perfect way to hide your secret shame.” The woman rolled her eyes and held the gauntlet out to her friend. “Take a look.”

Rosita looked at her friend and carefully operated the gauntlet. It beeped when she touched it and said, “Physical data obtained” in a cold feminine voice.

“’Physical data obtained’?”

“Oh,,,sorry about that. Still trying to get the sensitivity lowered. Seriously, though, look under physical configuration.”

Rosita went back to the device and found the appropriate tab. She let out a laugh when she saw what was on it. “Seriously? He gave you a program that lets him _literally_ fuck himself?”

“Yeah…” said the woman. “Pathetic, right?”

Rosita grinned. “Guess you’re gonna have to find a new way to tell him to fuck off.” She let go of the gauntlet and picked up her drink again. “Why’s that mean he’s tired of you, though?”

“I’ll get to that,” she said. “First, though…” The woman hit a control on the device and placed it in front of Rosita. “Say something?”

“Like what?”

“That’ll do.” The woman tapped furiously on the device, entering commands.

“I thought you were still learning how to work that?”

“Who said that?” She entered one final command into the gauntlet. “Okay, hold your breath, and…” Within seconds, Rosita found herself staring at a picture-perfect copy of…her. The other her smiled the smile Rosita wore whenever she did something especially awesome and said, in her own voice, “What do you think, _chica_?”

Rosita swallowed nervously. “That’s…impressive.” She cleared her throat and said, “Can…can you turn that off?”

“Why? I thought you were proud of your looks.” The false Rosita stepped towards her. “Besides, don’t you think I look good like this?”

“Honey, please—”

“I mean, _I_ think this is the best I’ve looked the whole time we’ve known each other. What do you think, Robert?”

Rosita whirled around and saw Robert Del Rey standing behind her. He grinned wickedly. “Well, Angel, I’ve always thought you looked good, but if you’re talking about how you look on the outside _exclusively_ ….” He laughed. “Then yes, you look damn good.”

“Thank you, _mi amor_.” The new Rosita also laughed, then her face turned serious. “Of course, now we have a small problem, don’t we, Rosi?”

Rosita swallowed, her throat dry with fear. “What….what problem?”

“Well as far as the galaxy knows, there’s only one of you. You don’t even have some long-lost twin that could suddenly appear out of nowhere.”

Del Rey tsked. “A shame, how thorough our records are.”

“Truly,” agreed the woman. “Sadly, that means you’ve become an inconvenience.”

Rosita turned and ran immediately, but Del Rey was on her before she could take three steps. He turned her around so that she was facing the woman who had been her friend for more than ten years…the woman she had helped to reassemble from almost nothing. “Please,” she begged, as the woman bent down to pick something up. “You – you don’t need to do this. I’ll head way out to the fringes, where people don’t care about the church or—”

“Ah, but people always talk, don’t they? Sooner or later, someone will say something to someone else about having seen you – because let’s face it, you _are_ a memorable face – and then someone will overhear that and mention it to someone else who saw me somewhere at the same time that was happening, and….” The second Rosita shook her head. “No, better if there’s only one of me around.” She stood up again, and Rosita could see what she’d been getting – a monster of a blaster, one that looked big enough to cave someone’s head in with a single blow; one that had no doubt been supplied to her by Del Rey.

“Please…” she whispered.

“You know, that’s the same thing I said to the overzealous asshole who almost raped and killed me ten years ago. ‘ _Please_ get off me. _Please_ leave me and my sister alone. _Please_ don’t hurt my daddy.” The woman leveled the blaster at Rosita’s face. “See how far please can get you?”

She fired the blaster at full strength, completely obliterating any trace of Rosita’s face and killing her instantly. She fired again, and this time the blaster bolt punched straight through what remained of her head, turning what was left of the former Rosita’s cranium into ash and dust. The new Rosita lowered the blaster and smiled at the remains of her former friend.

“First lesson,” she said with a smile. “Only count on yourself, since no one else will be there to help you.”

Del Rey coughed slightly, and Rosita smiled. “Come on, lover,” she said. “Let’s get this lump of meat where no one will care about it.”

“So….you want someone else to help you?”

“No,” said Rosita. “I want my other half to help me.”

Del Rey grinned with lust. “Anything you please, Angel…”

_By the time she was seven, the girl’s life had become depressingly routine._

_Wake up. Fix breakfast. Clean house. Fix lunch. Perform exterior maintenance. Fix dinner. Clean up from the day. Sleep. Repeat._

_She wished Wynonna was bigger and stronger so she could be more of a help._

_She wished Daddy spent less time at the bar and more time with her._

_She wished Mama hadn’t run off and left her all alone to take care of everything, giving her all the responsibility in the universe._

_She wished someone would show up and free her from this prison of repetition._

_She wished she didn’t have so many wishes._

Rosita grabbed a bottle from behind the bar and pulled the stopper out without breaking a sweat. She took a swallow and said to the person next to her, “If you could have one wish for anything in the whole galaxy, what would it be?”

The redhead next to her – one of Bunny’s latest playthings – looked at Rosita through eyes that were clouded with about four hours of heavy drinking. “Huh?”

Rosita smiled and offered the kid some of her new acquisition. “What’s your name, kid?”

The pilot smiled dizzily. “Haught. H-A…” She trailed off, apparently forgetting what she was saying.

“Uh-huh…you got a first name or just a temperature?”

“’M Nicole,” the girl said, grinning stupidly.

“Okay, Nicole, let me ask you this…if you had a super-shitty childhood, but you totally changed yourself and a job came along that landed you smack dab where that shitty childhood was….or at least in the neighborhood of it…would you take it?”

Haught just stared at her. “You’re pretty,” she said.

 _Would that THAT was true_ , thought Rosita. “Thanks.”

“I’m married.”

Rosita turned towards the pilot, intrigued. “Oh?”

“Well….not _married_ married. Me and my buddy were hiding, and we needed some cover. It’s not like I knocked her up or anything.”

“Could you have?”

Haught laughed into her drink. “You’re funny.”

Rosita smiled and sipped from the bottle, not wanting to get as plastered as this fool seemed determined to be. Still… “So what are you here for? Work?”

“Yup. I’m a pilot.” Haught took the bottle she was drinking from and flew it around her head with a big whoosh.

Despite herself, Rosita smiled. “And a cute drunk to boot.” Rosita looked around, looked back at Haught, and shrugged. “You wanna get out of here?”

_Aunt Gus took the last of the packages from the girl. “Okay, Willa, you ready to get going?”_

_The girl simply nodded. She wasn’t thrilled with the whole idea of helping out her mother’s sister in a bar Daddy had purchased on a whim, but if it meant they had money to survive…_

_Gus noticed her silence. “What’s the matter, hon? Droid steal your tongue, or something?”_

_“No, ma’am,” she said sullenly._

_“Right…” Gus sighed and took out the last of the cash that was earmarked for Earp use exclusively. “Just tell your daddy to take better care of the next batch. The last one turned something quick.”_

_“Daddy knows what he’s doing.”_

_Gus rolled her eyes and started to head back inside, then paused. “One other thing…some folks were by earlier asking about where your ranch was. Think they might’ve been revenants.”_

_She perked up at that. “Really?”_

_“They didn’t do anything special or hurt anyone, but all the same….the questions they were asking…” Gus sighed. “Just tell your daddy to be careful for the next few days, okay? Just in case.”_

_The girl smirked. “We don’t_ need _to be careful. Any revheads try to take on Daddy will fry.”_

_Gus didn’t say anything and just shook her head sadly. Willa turned and headed for the transport depot. Gus was just being stupid and paranoid. Even if there were revenants in the area, they’d have to be pretty stupid to try and attack them right where they lived._

_There was_ nothing _to worry about…_

Rosita checked her blaster and adjusted her electronics. According to Bunny, Haught had snuck into atmo last night and was currently holed up somewhere in the main city. A little reconnaissance, and soon she was waiting outside the town’s chief watering hole, where once upon a time another version of her had spent some time with people who pretended to care about her.

Rosita laughed bitterly. Like she had told Robert, that version of her was long dead. Now she had a job to do, and unless her info was way off—

_There._

Rosita smiled to herself. Haught and her overweight idiot of a copilot were exiting the bar through a side entrance, avoiding some dustup or other out front. The pair wandered down a side street, ducking into back alley after back alley. Without missing a beat, Rosita fell into step behind them.

Up ahead, Nedley was pulling Haught back. Probably one of Bunny’s other minions had jumped the gun and spooked them. Haught was pacing back and forth, not really paying attention to anything. “Okay,” the pilot was saying. “She’s probably at the ship, so let’s just duck the rest of these guys and head on over there.” Rosita walked in closer and stuck her gun to Nedley’s back just as Haught said, “She’ll be…pleased to see us.”

Rosita laughed at that. “Boy, you must be operating under some outdated definition of pleased if you think that’s gonna be the case, Red.” Rosita stepped out from behind Nedley and grinned at her one-time lover and current cash ticket.

Haught wasn’t stupid. She saw the situation and sighed. “Hi, Rosi.”

Rosita grinned back, delighted. “Hi, baby. You miss me?”

**Author's Note:**

> To see what happens next, jump into Chapter 12 of Earp Wars! https://archiveofourown.org/works/20752640/chapters/50080898#workskin


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